John Allegro's theory (Jesus was a mushroom)

Probably some of you have heard about John Allegro, a british scholar that took part in the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Did a search, and have seen some people mentioning him in old posts.
This morning my mom introduced me to him, sending me this video:

I cracked up, it's one of the funniest short clips I have seen for some time, just for the host's serious face as he questions "Are you really
seriously suggesting that Jesus Christ was a mushroom?"

I had of course heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and of the controversy they generated upon their published translations and interpretations.
Apparently Allegro was the only non-religious academic involved in the early study of the scrolls, and was the only one to fully publish his
findings.
Being a philologist, he focused on the language (and on the evolution of it) translating the language without the bias of theological ideas.

From what I understood till now, his main idea is that the story of Jesus derives from the earlier myth of the
Teacher of Righteousness, mixed with an an ancient hallucinogenic mushroom cult.
As described in his book "The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross".

Over the centuries there were those who experimented with herbs and drugs and, as I shall show, came upon one drug that really seemed to transport
them out of this world into heaven.

But this knowledge was not to be shared indiscriminately. If god was jealous of his powers, so were those to whom he gave this glimpse of divinity.
Paradise was for the favoured few.

And so there arose the priesthood with its secret preparations and ceremonies that had to be observed before the chosen ones could take the
drug—rituals that gave them great powers over the rest of the community.

Rarely, and then only for urgent practical purposes, were those secrets ever committed to writing.

Normally they would be passed between the priest and the initiate by word of mouth: dependent for their accurate transmission on the trained memories
of men dedicated to the learning and recitation of these “scriptures.”

But if, for some dramatic reason – persecution, or the disruption caused by war—it became necessary to write down the precious names of the drug,
the manner of its use, and the secret incantations, it was written in a secret form. A code—hidden in a story containing puns or some other word
play.

I believe that this is the basic truth about the stories in the New Testament.

The key which unlocked the secret is philology – the study of words and language. Recent discoveries about the origins of the language of the Old
and New Testaments—Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek—have revealed to me that from very early times the original meanings of the words and stories were
lost or misunderstood.

Christ, for instance, far from being a real person, is now shown to be merely another name for the drug plant.

I want to read more in depth when I have the chance.

And

I'm not advocating for his idea, as I have just found out about him. Although I do have a very open mind regarding religion and it's origins.
In no way intending to offend religious views in here.
For now I just wanted to share this with a few of you who may be interested as well.

(I thought this could be a religious conspiracy, but mods please move to where you feel is more appropriate.)

a reply to: athousandlives
I guess not too and it was terribly twisted for sure !...Christ should have shared those mushrooms with those people..transmiting the message by word
wasn't enough.

Edit: only read now that christ was the name given by the cult to the mushroom..hmm interesting i really like this theory and could very well be true
but no christian would ever buy into this...sadly..

originally posted by: mindtricks11
a reply to: athousandlives
I guess not too and it was terribly twisted for sure !...Christ should have shared those mushrooms with those people..transmiting the message by word
wasn't enough.

The reports of Monks selling their urine to the faithfull must have been true ,I came across an account where the Amanita was so powerful you could
ingest the urine several times after it had been through a few people and still and get high. I think its called the trickle down effect, Its habitat
is in pine forestland and is used by the reindeer herders as a treat for the reindeer, as it keeps them placid..

originally posted by: npo902
i wonder if there are twelve different kind of shrooms since there were 12 apostles and each has their own affect? i tripped once on shrooms and i
still feel the effects so i'll pass >< lol

Some of the Christian rituals in the early days might, have derived from the Priest giving out magic mushrooms to the faithful, "body and blood of
Christ etc." Getting them in the habit would certainly add to the theatricals on a Sunday. Pushing dogma to a stoned audience has some credibility to
it.
Makes you wonder if the drug fuelled sixties, with all the creativity floating around, had something to do with forming the modern world. New
religions started up as well as the music, inventions and creative applications. The creative inventors are probably still serving time, for getting
busted.

16e.) Illicit Activity: Discussion of illicit activities, specifically the use of mind-altering drugs & substances, ---
i) Narcotics and illicit mind-altering substances, legal or otherwise: discussing personal use or personal experiences as the result of such
substances is not allowed in any form.

Uhm, thanks for reopening this.
Didn't mean the thread to be about mushroom "experiences".

Anyways, if there are still people interested, just found these links today. Regarding, as Allegro's studies found, that many ancient myths could
come from or be related to occult hallucinogenic rituals. Mushroom Mythologies

There have been many mythological mushroom heroes known throughout history. Perseus was an ancient mushroom hero, founder and King of the
city-state of Mycenae (Mushroom City). Perseus flew around on winged sandals making “Perseia” a magical herb, grow wherever he dropped the chape
of his scabbard. Wherever Perseus dropped his cap, “myces,” mushrooms would sprout underneath. Libertus is another mushroom hero whose depiction
can be found atop the US Capitol building of all places. Libertus wears a Liberty Cap (or Phrygian Cap) which is shaped like and named after the
Liberty Cap mushroom.

This is why Mithra, the ancient mushroom hero is depicted rising from a stone entwined in snakes. Mithra, one of the 15 pre-Christian gods with
exactly the same story as Jesus, was undeniably a mushroom god. Just as Christians take communion, Mithraic initiates ate mushroom sacraments as part
of their worship. Just as Christians line up in Church to receive the body and blood of Christ, so did initiates in the Mithraeum line up to receive
the body and blood of Mithra.

I first heard of Mithra when I found out that near where I live lie the ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to Mithra.
Apparently one of the supposed practices of the followers in these temples involved lying in hot tubs after having ingested mushrooms and other
hallucinogenics. Sensorial-deprivation tanks come to mind.

Some food for thought in there, I'm in no way an expert on ancient myths or cults. But some of the etymology does make me think.
What do we really know about myths and ancient practices, when so much can be lost in translation, either due to time or persecution?

There are also quite a few examples of
mushrooms depicted in christian art.
I think this could go on and on, with all the stuff I keep finding about ancient mushrooms, lol.
I'm hungry now.

I don't think St. John was on anything. I think he was a very old man who had lived a very spiritual but difficult life ... survived assassination
attempts and saw his friends assassinated ... and was living in exile which wasn't a healthy lifestyle. I'm thinking some kind of dementia with
religious hallucinations (due to his very religious life) were kicking in. But I guess we'll find out when we die and get to the other side ...

The lack of recorded history back then means its very possible much of the main stream interpretation of religion could be significantly wrong. If the
story of Jesus was only say discovered last century people would dismiss it as a myth, so why do people want to believe it?

Long ago, I tried to read The Sacred Mushroom & the Cross. I found it incredibly far-fetched, one of those theories based on the origins and
meanings of words in different languages. Such philological theories were very popular in Victorian times, and their popularity has endured in India
and more generally in South Asia where I live, although it has become less popular in the West.

There is a reason for both these phenomena: philological 'detective work' is a popular form of pseudo-scholarship in South Asia, where racism,
misogyny, religious bigotry and caste oppression are
measurably worse:
than: elsewhere:
in the:
world, and this kind of false scholarship
is used to justify all kinds of hatred, oppression and injustice.

It lacks credibility in the West partly because of this abuse of it (which is
not confined to South Asia by any means) and partly
because there are often disagreements between philological studies and more reliable genetic ones. The heyday of philology was the Victorian era, and
Allego's ideas are like a throwback to that time.

Besides, there history of Christianity is quite well documented and any sacred-mushroom business must have occurred before the second century, by
which time there was plenty of documentation and nothing to indicate any funny business of this kind. Occam's razor suggests that Allegro's theory is
nonsense and there was never any mushroom munching at all.

My opinion as an atheist: Jesus may have been all kinds of things, but he wasn't a mushroom.

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